The San Antonio region is renowned for its impressive array of birdlife, and one of the most popular places for birders to share their passion is the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center.
The Center’s Director Sara Beesley says it’s all about location.
“San Antonio is actually located right in the middle of the central flyway,” Beesley said. “So just like humans have highways, birds have flyways. And so for a lot of different birds, Texas is a northernmost range for some of the southern species. And then the southernmost range for a lot of northern species.”
Beesley said for people who want to know more about birds, the Audubon Center’s 1,200 acres is the ideal place. They can learn about the 350 species that live or rest there before the birds fly off to continue their journeys.
“Every Sunday, except for the fifth Sunday, we have bird tours, which are actually both walking and driving,” she said. “We have seven and a half miles of trails, but five of those are drivable in good weather.”
The Mitchell Lake Audubon Center also has a beginner's birding walk that’s designed for those who have an interest but not much bird knowledge. She said they’ll learn a lot during the walk.
“Learning a little bit more about how to identify birds that they're seeing, how to use binoculars, how to tell them difference by sound, even,” she said. “It's a really great walk just for anybody getting started or even for people who are more advanced in their birdwatching skills. And that's a short walk. It's about a mile to a mile and a quarter along our ADA accessible trail.”
Beesley said the area’s natural attributes and its location in the primary flyway between Central America and the northern plains made it the perfect location for bird spotting.
“There are several different ecosystems that all come together right in San Antonio. So that variety of habitats with all these different kinds of flyways and regions coming together — that's why we get so many different bird species,” she said.
More information is available at mitchelllake.audubon.org.
